What now? Budapest’s electricity in trouble

Increased energy prices will be a huge challenge for Budapest and the whole world next year, and we do not even know exactly how much Budapest will pay for electricity, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony told ATV.

Buses will replace the iconic cogwheel throughout the winter (as we also reported), with the temporary shutdown lasting until the end of the planned spring track renewal, napi.hu writes. According to Gergely Karácsony, they cannot excluded that there will be similar painful decisions in the coming months. The mayor told ATV that they have to save money because they do not receive any government aid.

At the last session of the Municipal Assembly, the mayor of the 7th district, Zoltán Pokorni, said that the capital should try to save on services that are not absolutely necessary. According to Karácsony, the utilisation of the cogwheel is around 10 percent on weekdays, and there are more complaints about noise than about the cogwheel not running.

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“We are not shutting down tram nr. 4-6, and we are not shutting down the subway, but we are depriving the city of an approach that may be an emotional issue for many, but it is less of an impact on daily commuting,” he added.

As a change, they will buy electricity at a daily price. They hope this will mean they will pay less than if they had a quarterly or annual contract. However, it is hard to say how much of a burden this will put on the city. They are preparing not to have to make any other transport decisions, but Karácsony said it is not impossible that they will have to make other painful decisions like this.